Learning Objectives and Expected Learning Outcomes

Learning Objectives

The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive and critical understanding of the main processes in the history of modern art (conventionally from the 15th to the 18th century), with particular attention to the stylistic, iconographic, and cultural dynamics that characterised European artistic production and its relationships with the Mediterranean area and the extra-European world.

The course also intends to develop students’ ability to read and interpret works of art through formal, iconographic, and contextual analysis, and to provide them with the tools to navigate contemporary art historiography, with specific reference — within the DAMS and Humanities degree pathways — to the history of visual arts, architecture, and applied arts in Early Modern Europe.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Students will acquire knowledge of the main movements, artists, and works of modern art, including the Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassicism. They will be able to correctly place the analysed works and visual repertoires in their historical and geographical contexts, recognising their formal characteristics and historical-cultural significance.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding

Students will develop the ability to read, analyse, and contextualise different types of artworks (painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts) through the tools of formal and iconographic criticism. They will be able to construct coherent art-historical arguments supported by documentary sources and critical literature.

Making Judgements

Students will develop an initial critical ability to evaluate artworks and artistic phenomena, recognising their complexity and the plurality of historiographical interpretations, without requiring advanced specialist knowledge.

Communication Skills

Students will be able to present the course contents orally in a clear and appropriate manner, using basic art-historical terminology. They will be able to relate an artwork or artist to its historical, cultural, and patronage context with sufficient clarity.

Learning Skills

Students will acquire the essential tools to independently understand the artistic context of a work or an artist through the reading of specialised and popular texts, as well as through the use of digital resources and image archives.

Research Area

History of artistic culture in the Early Modern period; patronage, courts, and ecclesiastical and secular commissions; circulation of visual models between artistic centres and peripheral areas; religious and secular iconography; relationships between visual arts, literature, and music.

Main Course Topics

The course addresses the following key themes:

• Introduction to art-historical periodisation: what is modern art?
• Humanism and the Renaissance: theories of art, perspective, and patronage
• The great masters of the Italian Quattrocento: from Masaccio to Botticelli
• The High Renaissance: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and the question of Classicism
• Art and the Reformation: the Counter-Reformation and new representations of the sacred
• Mannerism: the crisis of classical norms and formal experimentation
• The Baroque: Caravaggio, Bernini, and the spread of a European artistic language
• European courts and artistic production between the 16th and 17th centuries: patronage and collecting practices
• Rococo and 18th-century European painting: from Watteau to Tiepolo
• Neoclassicism and its cultural foundations: art, archaeology, and the Enlightenment

Prerequisites and Course Contents

Prerequisites

No formal prerequisites are required. However, a basic knowledge of medieval history and general historical periodisation, acquired during secondary education, is recommended. The ability to critically read texts in Italian or English is essential. Basic familiarity with the main artistic techniques (painting, sculpture, and architecture) is recommended but not mandatory.

Course Contents

The course is divided into two parts, distributed over the 48 hours of scheduled classroom teaching.

The first part provides an essential historical and artistic overview of the Early Modern period, from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century, following an accessible chronological and thematic approach. The course will favour a clear narrative aimed at providing the fundamental coordinates of the period, with constant references to artworks, artists, and the contexts of production and reception. Students will be guided in placing works and artists within their historical, social, and cultural contexts, developing critical skills in the interpretation of images.

The second part (monographic section) will explore a specific topic — selected by the lecturer in relation to the interests and objectives of the course — through the reading and collective discussion of a historiographical text or critical essay. Consistently with the course approach, the monographic module may focus on the work of an individual artist, an exemplary patronage case, or a significant historical episode capable of illuminating the structures of the artistic system of the period in a vivid and engaging way.

Reference Texts

(At the beginning of the course, the lecturer will indicate the specific chapters to be studied; students are not required to read all the texts listed in full.)

General Textbook (Institutional Part) — Selected Chapters

• Settis, S., Montanari, T., Arte. Una storia naturale e civile, Einaudi Scuola, Mondadori Education:
  • 3. Dal Quattrocento alla Controriforma
  • 4. Dal Barocco all’Impressionismo
       (selected chapters)

Alternatively:

• Bora, G., Fiaccadori, G., Negri, A., Nova, A., I luoghi dell’arte: storia, opere, percorsi:
  • Vol. III. Dal Quattrocento all’età della Maniera
  • Vol. IV. Dall’età della Maniera al Rococò
    Mondadori
    (selected chapters)

Monographic Text (Monographic Part) — One Choice Among the Following

• Vasari, G., Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori
  (selected excerpts edited by the lecturer), Einaudi
• Mariuz, A., Tiepolo (edited by Pavanello, G.), Cierre
  (selected pages)
• Belting, H., Giovanni Bellini. La Pietà, Panini
  (selected pages)

Supporting Readings for the Historical and Cultural Context

• Burke, P., Il Rinascimento europeo. Centri e periferie, Laterza
  (selected excerpts)
• Baxandall, M., Pittura ed esperienze sociali nell’Italia del Quattrocento, Einaudi
  (selected excerpts)

Teaching Methods and Assessment

Teaching Methods

The course is based on classroom lectures with a clear and gradual presentation of the contents, supported by visual materials including extensive reproductions of artworks, historical maps, images, and high-resolution iconographic resources. Frequent use will be made of stylistic comparisons between artworks in order to develop students’ visual analysis skills.

Short documentaries and in-depth videos on artistic techniques and production contexts will also be presented. The course includes guided readings and discussions of short excerpts from primary sources (art treatises, artists’ letters, commission contracts) and historiographical texts, without requiring advanced technical knowledge.

The learning environment is designed to encourage participation and discussion, and is suitable for students coming from predominantly humanities, music, or performing arts backgrounds.

Assessment Methods

Oral examination:
The assessment consists of an oral examination on the course contents. Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the main movements, artists, and works of modern art, as well as the ability to analyse and historically contextualise an artwork and to show understanding of the assigned monographic text.

The examination takes the form of a dialogue, with emphasis placed on the understanding of concepts rather than on the memorisation of dates and technical details. The assessment considers clarity of presentation, accuracy of essential information, command of basic art-historical terminology, and the ability to relate artworks to their historical, cultural, and patronage contexts.